On Thursday the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) continued its sensational run and climbed a further 0.8% to 6,098.3 points thanks partly to strong gains in the resources sector.
Will the local share market be able to build on this and end the week on a high? Here are five things that could impact today's trade:
ASX futures are pointing higher.
At the time of writing SPI futures are pointing to the ASX opening 12 points or 0.2% higher on Friday. This potential move higher comes despite a weak night of trade on U.S. markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day mostly flat, the S&P 500 tumbled 0.2%, and the NASDAQ was down 0.2%.
RBA statement is due this morning.
Late this morning the Reserve Bank of Australia will release its statement on monetary policy. Investors will no doubt be examining the statement for any change in the central bank's inflation forecasts and any indication of when it expects to raise rates. Most economists agree that there won't be a rate rise in 2018.
Macquarie results.
Hot on the heels of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) and National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB), investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) will release its full-year results this morning. According to Bloomberg, analysts are expecting Macquarie to achieve a net profit of $2,470 million and earnings per share of $7.17.
Oil prices have continued to climb.
The likes of BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP), Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH), and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) could be poised to have another strong day of trade after oil prices continued to climb higher. According to Bloomberg, Brent crude oil rose 0.5% to US$73.71 a barrel and WTI crude oil pushed over 0.8% higher to US$68.50 a barrel.
Precious and industrial metals are on the rise.
In addition to oil prices, weakness in the U.S. dollar led to gains for gold, silver, copper, aluminium, and platinum overnight. This could mean shares such as Alumina Limited (ASX: AWC), Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST), and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) end the week on a high.
